This study considers the origins of physical education as a subject in State Schools in Scotland, and relates its growth to wider social issues. It suggests that between the Education Acts of 1872 and 1908, physical education developed as a response to particular problems in schools and society rather than as an intrinsic part of a Platonic view of education stressing the unity of body and mind. The body was regarded separately from the mind and the main function of physical education, defined in a variety of different ways, was to try to ensure that children were fit to profit from the academic instruction offered in Scottish schools. The acceptance of physical education rested on the convergence of a number of different steams of thought. Starting from different premises, with different objectives, and often with different views on the form of physical education which was desirable, all streams helped to some degree to move official and public opinion towards the acceptance of physical education in the schools. Three streams can be identified, though they overlap and do not exclude others: the advocacy of drill to improve discipline; of Swedish or German gymnastics to cure health disorders; of drill and gymnastics to improve military potential.